Muhammad Izzul Bin Mohd Mawardi, Nik Hakimi Nik Ali, Nabil M Hidayat
et al.
As electric vehicle adoption accelerates, the development of sustainable and efficient charging infrastructure is essential. This study presents a novel electric vehicle charging system that integrates solar photovoltaic energy with an energy storage system using a bidirectional buck-boost converter. The converter enables energy flow in both directions between the energy storage system and the electric vehicle, allowing flexible operation under varying energy availability. A control framework combining maximum power point tracking and proportional-integral control is implemented to regulate power flow and enhance system stability. MATLAB-based analysis evaluates system performance under different operational scenarios. Results show that the integration of an energy storage system reduces dependence on grid electricity while maintaining charging efficiency. The bidirectional buck-boost converter achieves high efficiency in both charging and discharging modes, enabling optimal energy utilization across solar, storage, and electric vehicle components. This work contributes to the advancement of smart and renewable-based electric vehicle charging infrastructure by improving energy flexibility, reliability, and sustainability.
Modern society is increasingly faced with the need to improve the transparency and accountability of public authorities in order to combat corruption. In many countries, including Ukraine, corruption remains one of the biggest challenges in public administration, negatively affecting economic development, social justice and citizens' trust in the state. Traditional forms of interaction between citizens and public administration, which involve paper-based procedures and direct contact with officials, often create fertile ground for abuse and bribery. In the context of digitalisation and the growing role of information and communication technologies in all spheres of public life, electronic services (e-services) offer an alternative way for citizens, businesses and public authorities to interact. The use of e-services simplifies administrative procedures, reduces the subjective influence of the human factor and speeds up access to necessary information. All this, in turn, contributes to reducing corruption risks and increasing the effectiveness of management decisions. In Ukraine, the fight against corruption is one of the priorities of state policy, enshrined in strategic documents such as the Sustainable Development Strategy "Ukraine 2021-2025". The implementation of digital initiatives, such as the National Agency for Corruption Prevention's electronic declaration system or the ProZorro public procurement platform, demonstrates the potential of technology to reduce corruption risks. However, the digitisation process is accompanied by challenges, including limited technical infrastructure, low levels of digital literacy, and the need to adapt legislation to new realities. Research on this topic allows us not only to assess the current state of digitisation, but also to offer recommendations for its further development in the law enforcement sphere. The aim of the work is to summarise the main scientifically based approaches to defining digitalisation processes and their characteristics as an anti-corruption tool for public administration in modern conditions. The methodology of the article is structured in such a way as to allow for the study of the development of digitalisation as an anti-corruption tool in public administration, the identification of the essential features of digitalisation in the field of public administration, the limitations of digitalisation processes in public administration, digital tools in the fight against corruption, and the identification of directions for anti-corruption strategy in the promising conditions of European integration. The study was conducted based on the principles of dialectical logic. The multifaceted and multifactorial nature of the development of digitalisation as an anti-corruption tool and public administration necessitates the use of a systematic and situational approach to its study. The work also applied methods of systemic, logical, institutional analysis, and forecasting. The development of provisions and conclusions used the possibilities of comparative studies, rational choice theory, and neo-institutionalism. The study demonstrates that digital technologies, most notably electronic registries, big data analytics systems, blockchain solutions, video surveillance, and whistleblowing platforms, possess considerable potential in the prevention and combatting of corruption in law enforcement. The effectiveness of these reforms is clearly demonstrated by Ukrainian examples, such as the NACP electronic declaration system and the ProZorro public procurement platform. These tools help ensure transparency, automate management processes and minimise the human factor, which is particularly important in an area where significant discretionary powers create opportunities for abuse of authority. At the same time, the process of implementing digital solutions is accompanied by a number of challenges, including technical limitations, insufficient digital literacy among employees, gaps in legislation, and growing cyber threats. In the context of martial law and limited resources, these challenges are becoming even more relevant in Ukraine, necessitating a gradual, adaptive approach to the digitalisation of law enforcement. Further development prospects are linked to the following key areas: integration of interdepartmental digital platforms, strengthening cybersecurity, systematic training of specialists, and deepening international co-operation. The adaptation of best international practices, in particular the recommendations of the OECD and the European Commission, as well as the updating of national legislation to take into account innovative technologies, in particular artificial intelligence, play a special role in this process. Digitalisation, provided it is accompanied by appropriate regulatory, organisational and technical support, can become the basis for a systemic transformation of anti-corruption policy, strengthening trust in law enforcement agencies and establishing the principle of the rule of law. Achieving these goals requires coordinated efforts by the state, civil society and international partners, which will enable the full potential of digital tools in the field of law enforcement to be realised.
Éder Wilian de Macedo Siqueira, Shyrleide Leite Menezes Maciel, Nelsio Rodrigues de Abreu
et al.
A carona solidária é uma alternativa ecologicamente responsável que utiliza plataformas digitais para otimizar recursos e oferecer benefícios econômicos, sociais e ambientais na mobilidade urbana. Este estudo teve como objetivo verificar os motivos e barreiras para a adoção de serviços de carona solidária entre usuários e não usuários urbanos, analisando a influência dos fatores demográficos. Utilizou uma abordagem quantitativa e descritiva, com uma amostra de 51 respondentes selecionados por amostragem bola de neve. Os dados foram coletados por um questionário online na plataforma Google Forms e analisados com técnicas de estatística descritiva no MS Excel. A pesquisa demonstrou que o gênero, especialmente as mulheres, influencia a adoção do serviço. Barreiras como preconceito, falta de disponibilidade de carona e inconveniência no agendamento foram identificadas como moderadamente relevantes. Além disso, 22% dos respondentes relataram experiências negativas, como atrasos e cancelamentos. A falta de opções exclusivas para mulheres foi uma preocupação, e 86% sugeriram melhorias em segurança e comunicação. A sustentabilidade foi destacada por 64% dos usuários, principalmente entre as gerações mais jovens, sugerindo a necessidade de campanhas educativas. Sendo assim, conclui-se que o gênero e barreiras como segurança, disponibilidade e agendamento, influenciam a adoção da carona solidária. A pesquisa contribui para a compreensão dos fatores que influenciam a adoção de inovações na mobilidade urbana, enriquecendo a literatura sobre o comportamento de consumo de caronas solidárias no Brasil.
Economic growth, development, planning, Social sciences (General)
Rexford Asianoah, Brink Botha, Ayo Adeniran
et al.
Commercial property development and investment (CPDI) is considered to be one of major investments which stimulate economic growth in many countries around the globe. Ghana is no exception. CPDI benefits include employment creation, tax revenue to the government, generation of income for investors and GDP increase. However, CPDI suffers from inherent risks when it comes to its planning, execution and management stage. Some of the inherent risks can be identified, assessed prior to execution if effective financial and professional analyses are conducted. Hence, the purpose of this study was to critically assess financial and professional risks on CPDI projects in Accra, Ghana. Based on this, an extensive literature review was conducted on the key variables such as PESTEL, strategic factors, PMBOK, financial and professional feasibility. The proposition is that these variables have significant effect on CPDI projects. Quantitative approach was employed to collect field data from the property practitioners within Accra enclave as respondents and, a survey of questionnaires was distributed using probability random sampling technique. Structural equation modelling was used to analyse the data gathered from the study respondents where 67% response rate was achieved. Analysis of the data proved that PESTEL analysis, strategic factors and PMBOK statistically have significant effect on CPDI projects risk assessment.
Legacy emissions from fossil fuel consumption signify the lasting impact of past carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions on present-day emissions. Given that the current emission levels are also high; it has become urgent to deal with this crisis. This study aims to examine the effects of gas consumption, legacy CO2 emissions, energy decoupling, and population on carbon dioxide emissions in South Africa using the modified IPAT identity and the Markov Switching Dynamic Regression analysis. Integrating additional variables into the modified IPAT identity uncovered evidence from the South African energy sector on the impact of gas consumption on the environment. The Markov Switching Dynamic Regression Model (MSDRM) utilised annual data from the South African energy sector from 1966 to 2020, collected from diverse sources. Results indicate that the Gas model’s probability (i.e., 0.8475) would persist in high-emissions states over time. The MSDRM results showed that gas consumption suggests a statistically significant negative relationship between gas consumption (-0.0461) and CO2 emissions, meaning that despite the decrease in CO2 emissions from using gas, it does not imply instant reversals in the ambient CO2 as to reduce the overall CO2, likely contributed from other CO2-emitting fuels. The MSDRM results showed that legacy CO2 emissions positively impact (I) current CO2 emissions and that decoupling (T) leads to increased CO2 emissions-the latter relationship indicating likely energy rebounding. These findings highlight the need to prioritise interventions and strategies targeting the factors with higher probabilities of contributing to sustained high emissions, which may involve implementing policies to transition away from high-emission sources while exploring alternatives and adopting cleaner energy sources. The results emphasise the challenge of decoupling economic growth from high CO2 emissions and underscore the importance of sustained efforts to address and mitigate climate change.
Economic growth, development, planning, Economics as a science
Olena A. Parshyna, Margaryta Yu. Parshyna, Tatiana V. Chumak
et al.
The growth of geopolitical tension and conflicts in the modern world pose a serious
threat to the international security system. It has been established that in recent years conflict
at the international level has reached a critical level with the highest risk of nuclear confrontation based on the results of the conducted research. In this regard, issues of constructive resolution of international conflicts, establishment and maintenance of a stable structure of international relations are gaining significant relevance.
The purpose of the article is to determine the essence of conflicts with the study of their
impact on the state of international security and to build an analytical basis for the formation of
systemic decisions aimed at their settlement in the conditions of growing geopolitical tension.
Analysis of conceptual approaches, theories and concepts of conflict research has been
provided in the course of the research. Classifications and typologies of international conflicts
are considered with an emphasis on the main structural elements of the conflict.
The formation of an analytical system for supporting strategic decision-making has been
proposed in order to solve issues related to the settlement of international conflicts and the effective development of international relations. The proposed system combines four subsystems, namely: the subsystem of forming information databases, the subsystem of determining
relationships, the subsystem of modelling and the subsystem of forming strategic decisions.
The practical use of the proposed system will make it possible to form analytical information and determine the dominant factors of influence on the socio-economic state and the
conflict situation. It is possible to determine the trends in the development of international conflicts and to form strategies for their settlement and increase the efficiency of international relations, taking into account the long-term perspective on the basis of obtaining analytical information.
Savindi Caldera, Randika Jayasinghe, Cheryl Desha
et al.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals aim to ‘do more and better with less’, with numerous calls to action arising from the business sector concerning the substantial reduction of targeted types of commercial and industrial waste. Emanating from the original work on closing material loops by McDonough and Braungardt in the 1990s, over the last two decades the concept of ‘upcycling’ has increased in popularity as a targeted intervention to reduce material and energy use in business processes. Essentially upcycling involves reusing, repairing, repurposing and upgrading waste material to avoid the conventional endpoint of ‘disposal’. However, upcycling is still considered a niche practice and many business enterprises remain unclear as to how to use upcycling opportunities for better management of their waste. In this paper, the authors propose a Tiered Approach to Waste Upcycling for Business, as a strategic way for businesses to close the loop within their industrial processes and production chains. The paper comprises a systematic literature review of opportunities and barriers for enabling business enterprises to close the loop through waste upcycling. The review highlights the ad hoc, champion-based and highly variable use of upcycling practices and uncovers opportunities for more systematic and streamlined practices to produce value-added products from waste material. Synthesising the findings, the authors establish three tiers of ‘macro’, ‘meso’ and ‘micro’ barriers and enablers that businesses can consider identifying upcycling opportunities for managing their waste. The authors also discuss key benefits of upcycling including improved quality and life of material, creating jobs and influencing positive consumer behaviour. The authors conclude the benefits of a structured approach to considering circular economy opportunities, towards improved waste management that is better for the bottom line, people and planet. With regard to future research in the field, the authors define a set of key theoretical constructs relating to waste upcycling, that can facilitate innovation and investigations into applying ideas.
Pandemics have always shaped cities throughout history, and numerous health challenges have been reflected in architecture and urban design. Today, the globe is dealing with a COVID-19 pandemic, which is maybe the worst in history. Coronavirus (COVID-19)sparks a critical debate about how to use smart technology's concepts and insights to urban planning and architecture. As a result of the recent pandemic, this commentary sheds light on considerations and challenges in the area of knowledge in these fields. As a result, it is now more vital than ever for policymakers at the local, regional, and national levels to begin developing smart city and Internet of Things plans. The Smart Cities Mission is a government-led project to promote economic growth and development across four strategic planning pillars: city improvement, city rehabilitation, city extension (Greenfield development), and pan-city development. This study discusses numerous obstacles and constraints in three categories: technical, socioeconomic, and environmental. This paper intends to investigate the feasibility of applying technology in an existing city and transforming it into a smart city using the most advanced technologies, as well as smart strategies and automated judgments; the research uses the 10th of Ramadan city as a case study. In addition, the predicted outcome of this article is the implementation of smart city policies as a best practise for the COVID-19 pandemic in Egypt. Finally, it is predicted that more cities would use technology into their strategy in the future.
In this paper, we assess the drivers of office rental prices in the municipality of Madrid with a sample of 4,721 offices in March, 2020. The estimation was performed using the decision tree approach, which was built with a random forest algorithm. This technique allows us to capture the strong nonlinear component in the relation between price and its drivers, mainly geospatial location. Through a stratified analysis, we find that the willingness to pay high rent in the center of Madrid is a feature of particular relevance to medium-sized offices. For different reasons, we also find some office clusters located far from the city center with high rent for both large and small offices.
Economic growth, development, planning, Economic history and conditions
Using the monthly data of the returns of 5 assets during 05/31/2011 to 02/28/2021, the volatilities of Iranian asset markets have been modeled in this paper. Factor multivariate stochastic volatility model in the framework of space-state approach is the basis for decomposing the asset market volatility into two components, “volatility rooted in latent factors” and “idiosyncratic volatility” and estimating time-varying covariance matrix and dynamic pair-wise correlation of time series. The findings reveal that: first, there are two latent factors. Second idiosyncratic volatilities of 3 assets, including stock, dollar and gold have increased since mid-2017, and emerges evidence of clustering behavior. Third, the volatility of inflation is explained by the hidden factors, and consequently the idiosyncratic volatility is almost smooth. Fourth, the volatility of stock return is highly correlated with the volatilities of inflation and dollar. In addition, there is a significant pairwise correlation between inflation-dollar and inflation-interest rate.
Humberto Filipe Faria Lelis Duarte, Evandro Camargos Teixeira
Este estudo tem como objetivo central analisar o efeito do nível de escolaridade sobre a fecundidade das mulheres brasileiras. Para tal, utiliza-se um modelo Probit Ordenado com dados da Pesquisa Nacional por Amostra de Domicílios (PNAD), promovida pelo Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística (IBGE), no ano de 2015. Especificamente, leva-se em consideração na amostra mulheres com idade entre 15 e 49 anos, pois esta faixa etária corresponde, oficialmente, ao período fértil da mulher, conforme utilizado para o cálculo da taxa de fecundidade total. Nos resultados, verificou-se que o nível mais elevado de escolaridade diminui a fecundidade das mulheres brasileiras e, dessa forma, a taxa de fecundidade total do país. Com relação à finalização dos ciclos escolares, é possível concluir ainda que a conclusão do ensino médio é a que mais contribui para a redução do número de filhos, seguida da finalização do ensino superior e ensino fundamental. Assim, conclui-se que a promoção de políticas públicas educacionais pode contribuir para maior empoderamento feminino e consequente controle da natalidade.
Economic growth, development, planning, Economics as a science
Africa has experienced economic growth of more than 5 percent per annum during the past decade, but to sustain this growth, investment in infrastructure is fundamental. Much of these investments will support the construction of long-lived infrastructure (for example, dams, power stations, and irrigation canals), which will be vulnerable to the potentially harsher climate of the future. This book is the first to use a consistent approach across river basins and power systems in Africa, including a comprehensive, broad set of state-of-the-art climate projections to evaluate the risks posed by climate change to planned investments in Africa’s water, and power sectors. It further analyzes how investment plans can be modified to mitigate those risks, and it quantifies the corresponding benefits and costs, within the limits of a largely desk-based assessment. The scope of the study includes seven major river basins (Congo, Niger, Nile, Senegal, Upper Orange, Volta, and Zambezi) and four power pools (Central, Eastern, Southern, and West African). The study addresses the entire program for infrastructure development in Africa (PIDA) hydropower capacity enhancements in the subject basins, as part of the region’s overall power generation plans, as well as additional investments in irrigation that are included in regional and national master plans.
Cultural heritage preservation became one of the key topics of public discussion in the Late Russian Empire. These discussions led to the establishment of several initiatives for protecting Russian cultural heritage. This article demonstrates that such initiatives developed a variety of different strategies for heritage-making. Examples from the Society of the Protection and Preservation of the Monuments of Art and Antiquity in Russia and the Society of the Revival of Artistic Rus’ show that several strategies of heritage-making focusing on cultural heritage preservation were developed simultaneously by different civil groups and helped cultivate the interest of the state authority in the subject, an interest which later became institutionalised under the Soviet regime.